Ten years in Africa changes a person, I hope for the better.

Month: September 2017

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New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

Note that the criteria for admitting a new state to the Union is strictly up to Congress unless it involves an existing state at which point the state legislatures become involved. Note also that the Constitution is silent on the issue of seceding from the Union.¹ This proposal would create a formal procedure for a state to peacefully secede from the Union. The steps in this proposal are as follows:

Only those states which border on another country or have a coast line on the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico would be eligible to secede. The purpose of this restriction is to avoid a state seceding and creating a new country which is completely surrounded by the the remaining United States. As such the states initially eligible to secede would be: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Vermont, Alaska, and Hawaii (31 states). Those states not initially eligible to secede would be Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky (19 states). If a state were to secede that would change the above lists. For example, if Texas were to secede that would make Oklahoma and Arkansas eligible to secede.

The state wanting to secede would hold a referendum on the issue. The votes in favor of secession must be at least 55% of the votes cast. (the exact per cent required is less important than that it be a significant super majority; you’re not going to break up the union on a fifty per cent plus one basis). There must be at least three months notification of the date of the referendum.

No voter suppression is allowed. Any U.S. citizen who is a resident of the state in question would be allowed to vote. There would be federal monitors at all precincts to observe only. If their observations result in a finding that the was any significant voter suppression then the results would be thrown out.

If the referendum fails, or the results are thrown out due to voter suppression or any other irregularities a new referendum could not be scheduled for at least one year.

If the referendum succeeds then Congress must also approve of the secession by the same super majority as the referendum. The reality is, however, that I cannot imagine the Congress rejecting the secession if the referendum passes with a super majority.

If the referendum passes and Congress approves then the secession process would proceed over a three year period.

Consequences of secession:

All federal offices in the seceding state would close. This would include all military bases, Coast Guard bases, VA facilities, and border posts. All aircraft, vehicles, ships, etc. would be removed to the U.S. but all federal facilities would remain intact including any infrastructure such as radar units, network cabling etc.

There would be no dual citizenship. Anyone who becomes a citizen of the seceding state would forfeit his/her U.S. citizenship. If you dislike the Union so much that you want to secede then it makes no sense to allow you to continue to remain a U.S. citizen. Any U.S. citizen who is a resident of the seceding state who does not become a citizen of that state would remain a U.S. citizen but would obviously have to obtain a U.S. passport some time in the three year period if they did not already have one.

The seceding state would have to agree in advance to pay half of the moving expenses of any resident of the state who would not want to be a resident after secession. If any of the red states were to secede I cannot think of a good reason why any member of a minority group would want to remain a resident of that state after the three year transition period.

There are two programs in particular that anyone voting in a secession referendum should be aware of.

Social Security – You can receive social security if you are living outside of the U.S. but I don’t know if you can have the payments direct deposited in a foreign bank account. In any case that is an issue which could be negotiated during the three year transition period. The real problem is that as soon as you stop paying into the social security fund the amount would receive when you retire starts to decline and someone who is middle aged or a young adult would not get very much when they reach retirement age.

Medicare – This is a bigger problem since Medicare will not pay for any treatment outside of the United States. This means that even if you are already enrolled in Medicare and you are a resident of a state that secedes you would have to travel back to the U.S. for treatment or pay for it yourself.

There are many other issues involved in a secession such as where do you draw the offshore boundaries for a state such as North Carolina. Most of these would be settled as part of a negotiating process during the three year transition period.

While I am completely serious about creating a formal procedure for a state to secede from the Union I will admit to having an ulterior motive for establishing such a procedure. Current Governor Abbot and his predecessor Gov. Perry have both said they would consider having Texas secede from the Union. I want to call their bluff because I think they are both modern Texas cowboys – all hat and no cattle.² Implementing a formal procedure would send a message to Gov. Abbott to either put up or shut up. Unfortunately I don’t think he would either put up or shut up.³

It is important to note that at the beginning of the secession process which started the Civil War the seceding states made no attempt to secede peacefully. They started the process by shelling Fort Sumter and killing Union soldiers. In short, they wanted a civil war, not simply to secede.

It would be interesting to find out how many people in Texas wear cowboy hats compared to the number of Texans who are actually cowboys. The ration has to 1000 to 1 at least.

The fact is that most of the red states are moocher states. I am using Mitt Romney’s definition of a moocher which is anyone who receives more in Federal benefits than they pay in Federal taxes. Most red states, Texas in particular, receive more in Federal spending than the residents pay in Federal taxes. In the case of Texas, consider San Antonio which has five military base in the area. If Texas were to secede those five bases would all close and San Antonio would dry up and blow away.